Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95.

[KidVermicious]

Brown Santa would never do me like that.

Gotta love my Brown Clown.

*gigglesnort*

This shit just writes itself sometimes (get it? "this shit"? hee hee hee). Or rather, you guys write it. Whatever. Ya'll might wanna stop talking about your Brown, anyway.

Doesn't hurt I usually hook them up with a nice cigar.

:eyebrows:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Ok folks, after much trouble I got the rear end repaired on this truck. The delay was a result of working out the damage caused by UPS with the seller of the replacement tailgate I bought. Also the fact that I work out of state and Indiana winters go from October to May didn't help. I'll post the pics below as quickly as I can.

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Here is the damage. The second and third pics show the level of rust apart from the obvious damage. Decision was made to remove and recycle the metal and not replace the mud flaps.

 

[Red Leader]

Wow, what hassle! But sounds like you are getting it all worked out. That first pic you showed honestly didn't look bad...new tailgate, new bumper, whala!

I'm going to be switching out my regular tailgate for a rear-tire-carrier tailgate on my 2nd gen here at some point when I do the conversion...so the whole color matching thing is probably never gonna happen with how rare those things are when they show up. But honestly I'm kinda excited about that, I get to color coordinate. My wife would be skeptical though, seeing how I dress everyday :heh::lol:

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Here is what's left after the side bumpers were removed. Body on side actually looked good, rear bumper was still trashed underneath the molding.

I saved all the bolts and nuts that came out and marked them. All were rusty and some were damaged. The ones that could be re-used were soaked in muriatic acid (pool supply/home depot) to remove the rust. After that I rinsed them with water and soaked in 3 in 1 oil to use later.

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Here is what was left of the rear bumper supports after the bumper was removed. one was so badly rusted it fell off, the other is pictured. Both of these were replaced with NOS parts via ebay.
FYI - EBAY was the way to go for this repair. I was able to replace all the bumpers front and back, rear supports and tailgate for under $600.00. It took some looking and waiting, but the money saved made it worth it.

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics - internal pics

The back interior panel pops off. After that I disconnected as much of the wiring as possible. The wiring comes into the tailgate and was left attached to the vehicle when I removed the tailgate. Ultimately I still had to cut 5 wires to completely disconnect the wiring. I did this as far into the tailgate as possible to give me the most wires to work with.
pushing the latch (by my finger in last pic) enabled the tailgate to come out enough to disconnect it. The tailgate could not come all the way down because of how it was bent, but came out far enough to get to the bolts holding it on.

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Here are the 5 wires I had to cut to disconnect the final wiring between the body and the tailgate.

 

[walrusmt]

tail gate removal

There are three screws on each side holding the upper hinges. underneath there are 3 bolts on each side.
IMPORTANT: have someone holding the tailgate when you disconnect. Should seem obvious but wanted to mention it. I don't want anyone getting mashed!

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics - broken removed

Here is what was left. There is a push into the body that I'll address in the next big write up. Also you can see the wiring harness that was pulled out of the tailgate.
I didn't throw away any of the damaged parts until I completed the repair. You WILL need the occasional bolt, fastener, harness etc when you install the new parts.
I'll summarize how I fixed the body(somewhat) and installed the new bits later today or tomorrow. Now it's time for lunch.

 

[walrusmt]

Rear body damage on 2nd gen 95 Update with pics

Here is the replacement tailgate on the truck. I'll finish the trim later today. Funny that the tailgate is now on it's third vehicle - It was originally green, then installed on another truck and painted blue (poorly). After that It was sold to me.
I painted the replacement bumpers with rustoleum bed liner from walmart. Honestly not great stuff for bed liners, but good for bumpers I guess.

Hope this helps everyone.